_their_ Master to be outdone, have made him also a
wonder-worker, and a performer of miracles; without them Christianity
could not prosper. Miracles were needed in those days, on all special
occasions. "There is not a single historian of antiquity, whether Greek
or Latin, who has not recorded oracles, prodigies, prophecies, and
_miracles_, on the occasion of some memorable events, or revolutions of
states and kingdoms. Many of these are attested in the gravest manner by
the gravest writers, _and were firmly believed at the time by the
people_."[252:1]

Hindoo sacred books represent _Crishna_, their Saviour and Redeemer, as
in constant strife against the evil spirit. He surmounts extraordinary
dangers; strews his way with miracles; raising the dead, healing the
sick, restoring the maimed, the deaf and the blind; everywhere
supporting the weak against the strong, the oppressed against the
powerful. The people crowded his way and adored him as a GOD, and these
miracles were the evidences of his divinity for centuries before the
time of Jesus.

The learned Thomas Maurice, speaking of Crishna, tells us that he passed
his innocent hours at the home of his foster-father, in rural
diversions, his divine origin not being suspected, _until repeated
miracles soon discovered his celestial origin_;[252:2] and Sir William
Jones speaks of his _raising the dead_, and saving multitudes _by his
miraculous powers_.[253:1] To enumerate the miracles of Crishna would
be useless and tedious; we shall therefore mention but a few, of which
the Hindoo sacred books are teeming.

When Crishna was born, his life was sought by the reigning monarch,
Kansa, who had the infant Saviour and his father and mother locked in a
dungeon, guarded, and barred by seven iron doors. While in this dungeon
the father heard a secret voice distinctly utter these words: "Son of
Yadu, take up this child and carry it to Gokool, to the house of Nanda."
Vasudeva, struck with astonishment, answered: "How shall I obey this
injunction, thus vigilantly guarded and barred by seven iron doors that
prohibit all egress?" The unknown voice replied: "The doors shall open
of themselves to let thee pass, and behold, I have caused a deep slumber
to fall upon thy guards, which shall continue till thy journey be
accomplished." Vasudeva immediately felt his chains miraculously
loosened, and, taking up the child in his arms, hurried with it through
all the doors, the guards being burie